Jack Andraka discovered a near-100 per cent accurate test for pancreatic cancer that diagnoses early enough to ensure an almost 100 per cent chance of survival. In context: only 5.5 per cent of those diagnosed currently survive for five years. Andraka’s test, 400 times more sensitive, 168 times faster and 26,000 times cheaper than today’s, will revolutionize that. It can also be applied to ovarian and lung cancer.

Jack, now 16, is certainly not average. His light bulb idea occurred while reading an article on carbon nanotubes in a journal he’d smuggled into biology class under his hoodie. He recognized that nanotubes could suspend a protein, which, when coated on strips of filter paper, could cheaply and reliably test for pancreatic cancer (the disease killed both a family member, and his hero, Steve Jobs). “Just after I had my ‘eureka’ moment,” he says, “the teacher stormed over and confiscated the journal.”

He wrote to 200 professors begging to develop his theory. All but one rejected him. Dr AnirbanMaitra, at the Sol Goldman Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore was prepared to take the risk. “Because of the laws on child labor, I was ‘a volunteer’ and snuck into the lab through a back door,” says Andraka.

The potential of his discovery is huge: “You can switch the antibody to detect all kinds of diseases: HIV and Aids, Alzheimer’s, heart disease,” he explains.

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The Standard asks:

Has he ever been in trouble? Drink? Girls? “I’m gay, so no. And I wouldn’t know where to find alcohol.”

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This kid is made of win--and he's humble too! “I wouldn’t call myself smart,” he says. “I know people who are way smarter. But ... I guess it’s how you use information. It’s about creativity rather than facts. I’m a creative thinker. My parents never told me answers. They told me how to think, not what to think. I disagree with our bulimic education system: learning by rote and then puking up all the facts in an exam.”

When Anti-gay Inc. says trash like "Gays don't contribute anything to society", ALL of those ingrates better think again if they wind up being one of the thousands - millions of people saved because of this amazing kid.